Encapsulation of probiotics

Abstract

Elie Metchnikoff (1845–1916) is considered the grandfather of modern probiotics (Greek, “for life”) science. In his book The Overtime of Life (Metchinkoff, 1908), he proposed that administering live beneficial microbes to humans through fermented dairy may result in better health and senility delay (Zendeboodi et al., 2020). However, to exert such effects on the host, enough live cells should be guaranteed during storage and gastrointestinal (GI) passage. The loss of cell viability in prepared foods (especially fermented ones) and harsh GI conditions (e.g., low pH/osmolarity) has encouraged researchers to find new protection methods (Mokhtari, Jafari, & Khomeiri, 2019), from which microencapsulation and nano-covering stand are the most studied. These methods protect viable cells from oxygen, light, temperature, osmolarity, and free radical damage (Corona-Hernandez et al., 2013). Modern omics sciences offer new perspectives on the differential modulation of probiotics’ metabolism when delivered to the GI tract in free vs. entrapped or viable vs. nonviable cells. These and other relevant aspects of probiotic science are reviewed and discussed in the following sections